Pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake and its affiliates have ramped up spending in the 2026 midterm elections, even as a new national poll underscores widespread American skepticism toward digital assets. Federal filings show Fairshake alone has deployed $28 million across competitive primaries, while an affiliated group, Defend American Jobs, added $514,000 to support Representative James Baird in Indiana’s 4th District.
Baird, rated “strongly supports crypto” by the Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto, voted for the GENIUS Act on stablecoin payments and the CLARITY Act on digital asset market structure. The Indiana outlay is part of a broader push; Fairshake held $193 million as of January and has already directed $8.6 million into Illinois races and over $1 million in Texas.
The spending spree comes against a challenging backdrop. A Public First poll conducted for Politico in April found that 45% of Americans believe investing in cryptocurrency is not worth the risk, while 44% say artificial intelligence is developing too fast. Nearly two-thirds of respondents want Congress to impose strict regulations or broad oversight on AI.
Combined with the pro-AI PAC Leading the Future, which launched in August 2025 with more than $75 million raised, industry-aligned groups have now spent over $100 million this cycle. Yet public awareness remains strikingly low—only 3% of those surveyed recognized Fairshake, and just 9% had heard of Leading the Future. Political observers warn that backlash could emerge once voters connect the massive spending to the industries behind it.
The stakes for crypto legislation are direct. If Democrats win either chamber in November, analysts give the CLARITY Act near-zero odds of passage, especially with Senator Elizabeth Warren potentially taking the Senate Banking Committee chair. Fairshake’s war chest is explicitly aimed at preventing that scenario. In 2024, a Fairshake-linked PAC spent more than $40 million to unseat Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a longtime crypto critic now running again.
While the industry continues to pour unprecedented sums into federal races, the poll results signal that winning political influence may not easily translate into public trust.
